Minimizing Surgical-Site Infections
- 7 January 2010
- journal article
- Published by Massachusetts Medical Society in New England Journal of Medicine
- Vol. 362 (1), 75-77
- https://doi.org/10.1056/nejme0908753
Abstract
Primitive ancestors of Homo sapiens and their colonizing bacteria have coevolved for approximately 500,000 years; some experts estimate that the total number of human cells is 1013 and the total number of colonizing microbes is 1014. Despite this 10-to-1 inequity, the balance of power is influenced by an intact human immune system and the integrity of the skin and mucous membranes. Operative procedures disrupt this balance, resulting in a risk of surgical-site infections from endogenous flora, including colonizing strains of Staphylococcus aureus.Each year in the United States, more than 30 million operative procedures are performed. The risk . . .This publication has 9 references indexed in Scilit:
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